The present invention relates to a cutter bit design for use in construction and excavation. It especially relates to cutter bits having a cemented carbide tip thereon.
In the past, a variety of cutter bit designs have been used in construction and excavation applications. These cutter bits have typically been tipped with a cemented tungsten carbide-cobalt insert which was brazed to the steel shank of the cutter bit.
Both rotatable and nonrotatable bits have been used in these applications. One of the early rotatable cutter bit designs involved a cemented carbide tip having an annular rear surface with a socket therein to which the forward end of the steel shank was brazed. The forward end of the steel shank had an annular forward surface with a forward projection thereon which partially extended into the socket (i.e., the depth of the socket was greater than the height of the forward projection). The braze joint between the steel and the cemented carbide was thus thickest at the forward end of the steel projection and thinnest at the facing annular surfaces of the cemented carbide and steel. While rotatable cutter bits of the foregoing design were commercially used, the cemented carbide of the tip was susceptible to fracture during usage.
The foregoing design was superseded by rotatable cutter bit designs in which the rear of the carbide was flat, or had a so-called valve seat design, either of which was brazed into a socket in the forward end of the steel (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,497,520 and 4,216,832, and West German Offenlegungschrift No. 2846744).
Examples of cutter bit designs utilizing a socket in the rear of the carbide are shown in South African Patent No. 82/9343; Russian Inventor's Certificate No. 402655; Published Swedish Patent Application No. 8400269-0 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,020.